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Saturday, August 17, 2013

I think something is missing.

I like art.

I am the kind of person that it "speaks" to. We used to live near the St.Louis Art Museum and I loved just going and looking at the paintings. Yep, I am one of those guys and I enjoy playing chess too! I could spend hours at a gallery just enjoying understanding how an artist may have been feeling or what the artist was going through internally by the colors used and stroke patterns they selected to express themselves.

There are some artists that seem to capture so much about life in their work and those are some of my favorite pieces. One of those artists is the sculptor Bruno Catalano.

The French artist Bruno Catalano was born in southern France in 1960. Though he had admired art since his youth, Catalano didn’t start sculpting until he was 30. He taught himself and with remarkable talent. Since starting with clay, more than a hundred of his trademark "travelers" have come alive under his capable hands. Since then, he’s had numerous exhibitions in France, the United States, England and China.

Bruno Catalano’s bronze sculptures have one
thing in common: they’re drawing a blank, literally. Where there should have
been a body, a shirt or an arm there’s, well, nothing.

Regardless of whether one calls the series by
its original name, “The Travelers” (“Les Voyageurs” in French), or as sometimes
suggested, “In Search of Missing Pieces”, the viewer always has to fill in the
blanks. Sometimes, that might
not even be necessary as the sculpture shows. The picturesque landscape
that they are placed in seems to add what’s missing. Maybe a message to all of us to become a bit more
transparent?

Other sculptures in the
series, however, grip the viewer and throw up a seemingly endless string of
questions: Where is the man portrayed off to? Why doesn’t he seem to care about
his missing piece? Is he in a rush?

But what’s behind his
desire to leave out parts and to portray people traveling?

One also
has to admire the perfect balance these imperfect travelers have attained.
Though they might be missing something, they are in perfect harmony with the
air around them. The incredible lightness of being after all? Only one thing
seems sure with Bruno Catalano’s work: The more information one gets, the more
questions one seems to have. Not even considering the biggest of all – are the
sculptures half full or half empty?

People nearly complete with something obviously missing and the killer part of all of it is that as the person observing, you can tell them just what is missing!King Solomon to me, first expressed the artwork of Bruno Catalano long before this artists ever picked up a lump of clay and began to sculpt.

"Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought , and on the labour that I had laboured to do : and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.:" ~Ecclessiasties 2:11He had done as much as a human being could do on this earth and when he looked back in reflection on his lifetime of achieving, he saw that life lived to simply achieve the "Next level" was empty.It is not material things nor is it the level of busyness in your life that fills you.So many people are rushing back and forth trying to scratch out a "life" and find significance and they find in the end that the emptiness that they were trying to fill was unable to be filled. It is only Christ that can fill the void. He fills in the blanks!Here is what Paul said about being empty."Though I speak with the tongues of menand of angels,andhave notcharity, I am become as sounding brass,or a tinkling cymbal.Andthough I have the gift of prophecy,andunderstand allmysteries,andallknowledge;andthough I have allfaith,so that I could remove mountains,andhave notcharity, I am nothing.Andthough I bestow allmygoods to feed the poor, andthough I give mybodyto be burned, andhave notcharity, it profiteth me nothing.Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charityenvieth not;charityvaunteth notitself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseeml, seeketh not her own,is not easily provoked, thinketh noevil; Rejoiceth notininiquity,butrejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things,believeth all things,hopeth all things,endureth all things. Charityneverfaileth: butwhether there be prophecies, they shall fail;whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we knowinpart,and we prophesy inpart. Butwhen that which is perfect is come, then that which is inpart shall be done away.When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thoughtas a child:butwhen I became a man, I put away childish things.Fornow we seethrough a glass,darkly;butthenfacetoface:now I knowinpart;butthen shall I know even asalso I am known. Andnowabidethfaith,hope,charity,thesethree;but the greatest of these is charity." ~ 1 Corinthians 13They walk all around you. People with their baggage that are empty and wandering in search of fulfillment. The thing about being empty on the inside is that you can spot someone who is filled when you see them. When you spend your life feeling alone, you recognize the presence of The Comforter.If people cannot see Him in you, then they do not want what you have. He is life, and people are looking for life all around you.If something is missing in your sculpture may I suggest the one who fills completely! Life is not found in a program it is found in a person and His name is Christ!The best day of my life was the day that I set down my baggage of busyness and just asked to meet Him. He absolutely has made me whole!Climbing With you,~Dan